Obama wants to cut red tape for exporters

Feb. 19, 2014
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President Obama / Alain Jocard, AFP/Getty Images

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

While en route to Mexico on Wednesday, President Obama signed an executive order that the White House says will significantly reduce the wait time for businesses exporting goods and services outside the USA.

Obama signed what the administration is calling an executive order on "streamlining the export/import process" while he was aboard Air Force One as he made his way to the North America Leaders Summit.

Currently, U.S. businesses have to submit information to dozens of government agencies to move goods across the border. The process can sometimes take days.

Obama's executive directive calls for completing the ongoing building of the International Trade Data System (ITDS) by December 2016. The system will allow businesses to electronically transmit the information currently being sent to myriad agencies through a "single-window."

"This Executive Order is especially important to small and medium companies that depend on global trade," a White House statement said. "Once fully implemented, the ITDS will dramatically reduce the time and expense for businesses to move the more than 50 million containers and $3.8 trillion worth of goods that cross our borders each year."

Obama's directive also calls on the government "to partner with non-government stakeholders to build more efficient business processes and improve border management policies," the White House said. The Border Interagency Executive Council (BIEC) will be tasked with improving coordination among the U.S. agencies with import and export requirements and outside stakeholders.

The order comes on a day when Obama and his counterparts, Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are expected to spend plenty of time talking about trade.

Obama is facing a measure of opposition from members of his own party, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, as he seeks to fast-track finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major trade deal of which Canada and Mexico are among 12 Pacific partners.